Jun 24, 2019

My Minnesota: Now, we get to the truth!

At the My Minnesota blog, John Harrington summarizes the situation with investigating the MPCA's behavior toward the EPA's misgivings about PolyMet in Now, we get to the truth!:

Yesterday,[in Which do you trust more, politicians or bureaucrat] we expressed concerns about the probable objectivity of any legislative hearing regarding the MPCA and EPA roles in crafting a wastewater discharge permit for the PolyMet NorthMet project. Today, we learned (see press release below and this link) that:

Rep. Hansen, chair of the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance Division, does not plan on calling any hearings in his committee on this issue.

Rep. Hansen is also Chair of the Legislative Audit Commission.

Rep. Hansen has called on the Office of the Legislative Auditor to review concerns surrounding MPCA's decision-making on the PolyMet permit.

The Legislative auditor will proceed with a thorough review immediately.

We cannot begin to express sufficient gratitude to Representative Hansen and the Office of the Legislative Auditor for their efforts on this matter. While we're at it, we also want to thank:

Inspired by Harrington, we're closing with a poem by Karl Shapiro that's been called to our mind by recent news reports. An apology for the Google Books image--the title refrain is not highlighted in yellow in the original poem and we can't find the poem in a stand-alone version online.

Photo: The closed LTV Steel taconite plant near Hoyt Lakes, Minn that will be transformed to PolyMet.

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